The Young Man and the World eBook

If you have greatness in you, do not be discouraged.
“It is up to you.”

Do not be discouraged, either, at failure and rebuke
and defeat. If you are going to attempt great
things, remember you are starting on a trunk-line.
Very well; all continental trunk-lines have tunnels
here and there. But these tunnels are black with
only temporary gloom.

It is only the short roads that do not run through
the mountains. Tunnels—­flashes of
darkness—­are certain to those who travel
far. Think of this—­you who have troubles,
difficulties, discouragements.

But if on finding your limitations, as suggested in
the first chapter of this book, you discover neither
inclination nor talent for these great ventures in
thought or action, do not, as you value happiness,
and even life, attempt great things; for your failure
has been written before you were born.

Do the thing which is in proportion to yourself;
and if that thing is not great, still you have served
yourself, your family, your country, and the world,
just as much as he who has done a larger thing, and
you deserve just as much credit for doing it.

None of us controlled the color of our eyes or the
texture of our brain. If we could have done so,
perhaps we should have been different from what we
are. And we cannot change the nature and relations
of things now; for “which of you by taking thought
can add one cubit unto his stature”?

But be your deeds little or big, one thing you can
do and be: You can be a man and do a man’s
work, heart gentle, and fearless feet on the earth,
but eyes on the stars. And to be a MAN, in our
American meaning of that word, is glory enough for
this earthly life. Be a man, be you street-sweeper
or the Republic’s President, and know that emperor
on throne of gold can be no more, and is lucky if he
is as much.

IX

NEGATIVE FUNDAMENTALS

At one of the great official receptions at the White
House one night some years ago, a group of two or
three gentlemen were observing the swirling throng,
with its ambitions, its jealousies, its brief flashes
of happiness, its numberless and infinitesimal intrigues,
its atmosphere of jaded, blase, and defeated expectations.

One of the group was perhaps the greatest master of
that mere political craft and that management of men
for the ordinary uses of politics, as we employ the
word, that the country has yet produced. He was
a sage of human nature. It was this quality, combined
with many other qualities, and the existence of certain
conditions, that made him the power that he was.
From a practical point of view, what he said about
men was always worth while.

“No, I don’t consider him effective,”
said this great politician when asked his opinion
of a certain very prominent man in public life, who
had just entered, and who was chatting and occasionally
laughing with some boisterousness. “Really,
he talks too much. Not that he betrays his confidences;
not even that he annoys, for what he says is always
bright; but—­he talks too much; that is all.”